This review may contain spoilers
She Saved Him First, Then They Spent Lifetimes Saving Each Other
I came into The Last Immortal with one simple expectation.
I wanted another beautiful xianxia after falling in love with Ancient Love Poetry. Knowing that this story follows Yuan Qi, the son of Bai Jue and Shang Gu, naturally made me curious. I wanted to see what kind of person the child of two True Gods would become.
What I never expected was that before I could even meet the legendary Phoenix Queen Feng Yin...
I would completely fall in love with a little Water Condensation Beast named A Yin.
That, in my opinion, is the greatest strength of this drama.
One question I constantly see on MDL is:
"Do I need to watch Ancient Love Poetry first?"
The answer is no, because The Last Immortal tells a complete story on its own.
However, if you've watched Ancient Love Poetry, the emotional experience becomes much richer.
Understanding who Bai Jue and Shang Gu are, why Yuan Qi grew up the way he did, and why becoming a True God was never something he wanted adds an entirely different layer to his character.
Without that background, Yuan Qi may initially come across as a lazy young immortal who refuses to cultivate.
With that background...
You realize he spent his childhood watching godhood take everything away from the people he loved.
For Yuan Qi, becoming a True God never represented glory.
It represented loneliness.
Responsibility.
Sacrifice.
Loss.
That subtle character writing completely changed how I viewed him.
One of the biggest misconceptions about this drama is believing that it begins with an overpowered male lead protecting a weak heroine.
It doesn't.
In fact...
A Yin saves Gu Jin first.
During Feng Yin's Nirvana, part of the Fire Phoenix Essence leaves the egg to protect the young Gu Jin when he is powerless and being bullied.
Unfortunately, Hua Shu happens to be wearing red that day, allowing her to steal the credit for saving him.
That single misunderstanding quietly becomes the foundation of nearly every tragedy that follows.
The Phoenix Essence is absorbed into Gu Jin's body.
Feng Yin's rebirth fails.
Instead...
She is reborn as the adorable Water Condensation Beast we come to know as A Yin.
Looking back after finishing all forty episodes, I genuinely admire how something that seemed like a small misunderstanding in Episode 1 continued to shape every major event until the finale.
At first, I thought this drama would simply be another adventure.
Collecting the scattered Immortal Essence.
Visiting different realms.
Meeting new allies.
Watching two people slowly fall in love.
The beginning feels surprisingly light, funny, and charming.
Gu Jin and A Yin constantly tease each other.
Their chemistry develops naturally through companionship rather than instant romance.
Unlike many xianxia dramas that rely on endless misunderstandings between the main couple, their relationship grows because they spend time together, protect each other, and slowly become each other's most important person.
That peaceful atmosphere made what came later hurt even more.
If A Yin is the emotional heart of this story, then Hua Shu is undoubtedly the catalyst behind much of its tragedy.
I rarely dislike a character this intensely.
Not because she was written as a typical jealous rival.
But because every decision she made was driven by ambition.
She stole another person's kindness.
She manipulated trust.
She repeatedly chose status over sincerity.
The moment she secretly punished A Yin and shattered her Immortal Core without anyone else's knowledge completely changed the trajectory of the story.
The most heartbreaking part wasn't A Yin's death.
It was realizing that Gu Jin genuinely believed he had already prepared everything necessary to save her.
He spent years of cultivation refining an elixir that he believed would protect her life.
He simply never knew that Hua Shu had already destroyed the very foundation that allowed A Yin to survive.
That realization broke me just as much as it broke him.
A Yin became one of my favorite xianxia heroines.
She begins as someone underestimated by almost everyone.
She isn't born powerful.
She isn't respected.
She isn't treated as special.
She is cheerful.
Kind.
Stubborn.
Sometimes impulsive.
But every hardship she experiences slowly shapes her into someone extraordinary.
The White Hair Arc remains one of the most emotional moments in the drama.
When she sacrificed almost all of her remaining lifespan to recover the final Immortal Essence fragments, I genuinely had to pause.
Everyone believed Water Condensation Beasts lived for a hundred years.
Then we discovered the devastating truth.
Because of the ancient war...
Their lifespan had already been drastically shortened.
She didn't have decades left.
She barely had one year.
Watching her continue smiling despite quietly accepting her own fate reminded me why Zhao Lusi continues to be one of the strongest emotional actresses of her generation.
Then came Daze Mountain.
This was the arc where I realized The Last Immortal was no longer simply a romance.
It became a story about injustice.
A Jiu's tragedy hit me unexpectedly hard.
He wasn't evil.
He wasn't a traitor.
He was possessed.
Yet before anyone even searched for the truth, people had already decided he was guilty.
The same happened to A Yin.
Again and again, the kindest people became the easiest people to blame.
That recurring theme made the emotional weight of the story feel much more grounded than many fantasy dramas.
I'll admit something.
There was a period where I was genuinely angry with Gu Jin.
Especially after he severed the Love Thread.
Like many viewers, I questioned why he kept choosing responsibility over the woman he loved.
But as the story progressed...
My perspective completely changed.
One thing I appreciate most about this drama is that it never asks us to forgive Yuan Qi simply because he's the male lead.
Instead...
It allows him to earn that forgiveness.
Piece by piece.
Choice by choice.
Sacrifice by sacrifice.
By the second half, we slowly discover everything he had quietly been carrying.
Reviving Daze Mountain.
Using his own Spirit God Origin.
Giving away the last remaining essence needed for Feng Yin's rebirth.
Never asking for recognition.
Never explaining himself.
Never expecting gratitude.
The moment his body slowly began fading because he had exhausted every last piece of his Spirit God power was the exact moment I stopped seeing him as someone who made mistakes...
and started seeing him as someone desperately trying to atone for them.
To me, that is what separates Yuan Qi from many other xianxia male leads.
His redemption isn't built on words.
It's built on consequences.
Feng Yin's rebirth was another brilliant writing decision.
Initially, I was excited to finally meet the legendary Phoenix Queen.
Ironically...
When that moment finally arrived...
I didn't want A Yin to disappear anymore.
That says everything about how successfully the writers developed her character.
Fortunately, they made the right decision.
Feng Yin never erased A Yin.
She carried every memory.
Every sacrifice.
Every lesson.
Every emotion.
The playful Water Condensation Beast became part of the dignified Phoenix Queen rather than being replaced by her.
That made the rebirth feel rewarding instead of tragic.
Visually, the drama consistently impressed me.
The CGI, while not perfect, remained beautiful throughout.
The different realms each had their own identity.
The Phoenix sequences looked majestic.
The costumes perfectly reflected every clan's culture and status.
I also have to mention the soundtrack.
The emotional scenes would not have hit nearly as hard without it.
Several moments stayed with me long after the episode ended simply because the music elevated the emotions so naturally.
Performance-wise, both leads delivered exactly what their characters required.
Wang Anyu surprised me the most.
His performance relies on restraint rather than exaggerated emotional breakdowns.
The quiet guilt.
The subtle sadness.
The exhausted smile whenever he tried reassuring Feng Yin despite knowing he was slowly disappearing.
Those moments carried incredible emotional weight.
Meanwhile, Zhao Lusi once again proved why she remains one of the strongest actresses in fantasy romance.
Playing A Yin and Feng Yin as two distinct yet connected identities could easily have felt artificial.
Instead, she made the transition completely believable.
By the end, I no longer saw two different characters.
I simply saw one woman who had grown through unimaginable pain.
My only criticism concerns the ending.
Not because it wasn't happy.
It absolutely was.
The explanation for Yuan Qi's return made sense within the story's mythology.
Unlike some xianxia endings that rely on vague miracles, this one actually respected its own world-building.
However...
After making us cry for almost forty episodes...
The reunion lasted only a few minutes.
Like many viewers on MDL, I couldn't help wishing we had just one more episode.
One episode showing their peaceful life together.
No more sacrifices.
No more separations.
Just happiness.
After everything they endured...
They deserved it.
So did we.
Looking back now...
I thought I was watching the story of a Phoenix Queen's rebirth.
Instead...
I witnessed two people spending an entire lifetime saving each other.
A Yin saved Gu Jin first.
Gu Jin spent the rest of the story trying to save her.
Then Feng Yin tried saving Yuan Qi.
And Yuan Qi quietly gave away his very existence to protect her and the Three Realms.
That beautiful cycle of sacrifice became the soul of the entire drama.
The Last Immortal isn't simply another xianxia filled with immortal realms and magical creatures.
It's a story about growing up.
Learning from mistakes.
Choosing responsibility without losing compassion.
And discovering that true love isn't measured by promises...
It's measured by the sacrifices two people willingly make for each other, even when no one else ever knows.
Despite all the tears, frustration, heartbreak, and emotional damage...
I would gladly experience this journey all over again.
I wanted another beautiful xianxia after falling in love with Ancient Love Poetry. Knowing that this story follows Yuan Qi, the son of Bai Jue and Shang Gu, naturally made me curious. I wanted to see what kind of person the child of two True Gods would become.
What I never expected was that before I could even meet the legendary Phoenix Queen Feng Yin...
I would completely fall in love with a little Water Condensation Beast named A Yin.
That, in my opinion, is the greatest strength of this drama.
One question I constantly see on MDL is:
"Do I need to watch Ancient Love Poetry first?"
The answer is no, because The Last Immortal tells a complete story on its own.
However, if you've watched Ancient Love Poetry, the emotional experience becomes much richer.
Understanding who Bai Jue and Shang Gu are, why Yuan Qi grew up the way he did, and why becoming a True God was never something he wanted adds an entirely different layer to his character.
Without that background, Yuan Qi may initially come across as a lazy young immortal who refuses to cultivate.
With that background...
You realize he spent his childhood watching godhood take everything away from the people he loved.
For Yuan Qi, becoming a True God never represented glory.
It represented loneliness.
Responsibility.
Sacrifice.
Loss.
That subtle character writing completely changed how I viewed him.
One of the biggest misconceptions about this drama is believing that it begins with an overpowered male lead protecting a weak heroine.
It doesn't.
In fact...
A Yin saves Gu Jin first.
During Feng Yin's Nirvana, part of the Fire Phoenix Essence leaves the egg to protect the young Gu Jin when he is powerless and being bullied.
Unfortunately, Hua Shu happens to be wearing red that day, allowing her to steal the credit for saving him.
That single misunderstanding quietly becomes the foundation of nearly every tragedy that follows.
The Phoenix Essence is absorbed into Gu Jin's body.
Feng Yin's rebirth fails.
Instead...
She is reborn as the adorable Water Condensation Beast we come to know as A Yin.
Looking back after finishing all forty episodes, I genuinely admire how something that seemed like a small misunderstanding in Episode 1 continued to shape every major event until the finale.
At first, I thought this drama would simply be another adventure.
Collecting the scattered Immortal Essence.
Visiting different realms.
Meeting new allies.
Watching two people slowly fall in love.
The beginning feels surprisingly light, funny, and charming.
Gu Jin and A Yin constantly tease each other.
Their chemistry develops naturally through companionship rather than instant romance.
Unlike many xianxia dramas that rely on endless misunderstandings between the main couple, their relationship grows because they spend time together, protect each other, and slowly become each other's most important person.
That peaceful atmosphere made what came later hurt even more.
If A Yin is the emotional heart of this story, then Hua Shu is undoubtedly the catalyst behind much of its tragedy.
I rarely dislike a character this intensely.
Not because she was written as a typical jealous rival.
But because every decision she made was driven by ambition.
She stole another person's kindness.
She manipulated trust.
She repeatedly chose status over sincerity.
The moment she secretly punished A Yin and shattered her Immortal Core without anyone else's knowledge completely changed the trajectory of the story.
The most heartbreaking part wasn't A Yin's death.
It was realizing that Gu Jin genuinely believed he had already prepared everything necessary to save her.
He spent years of cultivation refining an elixir that he believed would protect her life.
He simply never knew that Hua Shu had already destroyed the very foundation that allowed A Yin to survive.
That realization broke me just as much as it broke him.
A Yin became one of my favorite xianxia heroines.
She begins as someone underestimated by almost everyone.
She isn't born powerful.
She isn't respected.
She isn't treated as special.
She is cheerful.
Kind.
Stubborn.
Sometimes impulsive.
But every hardship she experiences slowly shapes her into someone extraordinary.
The White Hair Arc remains one of the most emotional moments in the drama.
When she sacrificed almost all of her remaining lifespan to recover the final Immortal Essence fragments, I genuinely had to pause.
Everyone believed Water Condensation Beasts lived for a hundred years.
Then we discovered the devastating truth.
Because of the ancient war...
Their lifespan had already been drastically shortened.
She didn't have decades left.
She barely had one year.
Watching her continue smiling despite quietly accepting her own fate reminded me why Zhao Lusi continues to be one of the strongest emotional actresses of her generation.
Then came Daze Mountain.
This was the arc where I realized The Last Immortal was no longer simply a romance.
It became a story about injustice.
A Jiu's tragedy hit me unexpectedly hard.
He wasn't evil.
He wasn't a traitor.
He was possessed.
Yet before anyone even searched for the truth, people had already decided he was guilty.
The same happened to A Yin.
Again and again, the kindest people became the easiest people to blame.
That recurring theme made the emotional weight of the story feel much more grounded than many fantasy dramas.
I'll admit something.
There was a period where I was genuinely angry with Gu Jin.
Especially after he severed the Love Thread.
Like many viewers, I questioned why he kept choosing responsibility over the woman he loved.
But as the story progressed...
My perspective completely changed.
One thing I appreciate most about this drama is that it never asks us to forgive Yuan Qi simply because he's the male lead.
Instead...
It allows him to earn that forgiveness.
Piece by piece.
Choice by choice.
Sacrifice by sacrifice.
By the second half, we slowly discover everything he had quietly been carrying.
Reviving Daze Mountain.
Using his own Spirit God Origin.
Giving away the last remaining essence needed for Feng Yin's rebirth.
Never asking for recognition.
Never explaining himself.
Never expecting gratitude.
The moment his body slowly began fading because he had exhausted every last piece of his Spirit God power was the exact moment I stopped seeing him as someone who made mistakes...
and started seeing him as someone desperately trying to atone for them.
To me, that is what separates Yuan Qi from many other xianxia male leads.
His redemption isn't built on words.
It's built on consequences.
Feng Yin's rebirth was another brilliant writing decision.
Initially, I was excited to finally meet the legendary Phoenix Queen.
Ironically...
When that moment finally arrived...
I didn't want A Yin to disappear anymore.
That says everything about how successfully the writers developed her character.
Fortunately, they made the right decision.
Feng Yin never erased A Yin.
She carried every memory.
Every sacrifice.
Every lesson.
Every emotion.
The playful Water Condensation Beast became part of the dignified Phoenix Queen rather than being replaced by her.
That made the rebirth feel rewarding instead of tragic.
Visually, the drama consistently impressed me.
The CGI, while not perfect, remained beautiful throughout.
The different realms each had their own identity.
The Phoenix sequences looked majestic.
The costumes perfectly reflected every clan's culture and status.
I also have to mention the soundtrack.
The emotional scenes would not have hit nearly as hard without it.
Several moments stayed with me long after the episode ended simply because the music elevated the emotions so naturally.
Performance-wise, both leads delivered exactly what their characters required.
Wang Anyu surprised me the most.
His performance relies on restraint rather than exaggerated emotional breakdowns.
The quiet guilt.
The subtle sadness.
The exhausted smile whenever he tried reassuring Feng Yin despite knowing he was slowly disappearing.
Those moments carried incredible emotional weight.
Meanwhile, Zhao Lusi once again proved why she remains one of the strongest actresses in fantasy romance.
Playing A Yin and Feng Yin as two distinct yet connected identities could easily have felt artificial.
Instead, she made the transition completely believable.
By the end, I no longer saw two different characters.
I simply saw one woman who had grown through unimaginable pain.
My only criticism concerns the ending.
Not because it wasn't happy.
It absolutely was.
The explanation for Yuan Qi's return made sense within the story's mythology.
Unlike some xianxia endings that rely on vague miracles, this one actually respected its own world-building.
However...
After making us cry for almost forty episodes...
The reunion lasted only a few minutes.
Like many viewers on MDL, I couldn't help wishing we had just one more episode.
One episode showing their peaceful life together.
No more sacrifices.
No more separations.
Just happiness.
After everything they endured...
They deserved it.
So did we.
Looking back now...
I thought I was watching the story of a Phoenix Queen's rebirth.
Instead...
I witnessed two people spending an entire lifetime saving each other.
A Yin saved Gu Jin first.
Gu Jin spent the rest of the story trying to save her.
Then Feng Yin tried saving Yuan Qi.
And Yuan Qi quietly gave away his very existence to protect her and the Three Realms.
That beautiful cycle of sacrifice became the soul of the entire drama.
The Last Immortal isn't simply another xianxia filled with immortal realms and magical creatures.
It's a story about growing up.
Learning from mistakes.
Choosing responsibility without losing compassion.
And discovering that true love isn't measured by promises...
It's measured by the sacrifices two people willingly make for each other, even when no one else ever knows.
Despite all the tears, frustration, heartbreak, and emotional damage...
I would gladly experience this journey all over again.
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